The long winter
by Donna Vito Frutti
Summary: Loki is in the state between life and death, after his fall from the Bifrost. Suspended in the limbo, he is fast crossing the line to death, but, something holds him back,like a dream or memory. And in it, she appears ... ""You are pretty naive, then, for a goddess of war. " She drew near and her footsteps echoed in the cell."You are a sorry sight then, for any god"


Sif didn't know what she was doing here or why she was here. She only knew that she had to reach…somewhere…someone…

She trudged on the snow until she saw the tower of a castle in the middle of nowhere. She entered it. Into a room.

The room was smoky and dark.

Smoky, like dream and dark, like dread.

...but she could make out the features of Loki ... through the bars of an open window set in the ceiling, faint light entered the room that left the rest of his face in shadow. As soon as he saw her he stepped wholly into the light.

He smirked.

"Ah, Sif," he said, not surprised to see her, "Have u come to end my misery?"

"I have come to take you with me" She didn't waste time with small talk.

"You are pretty naive, then, for a goddess of war. "

She drew near and her footsteps echoed in the cell.

"You are a sorry sight then, for any god"

He chuckled.

"These ? Odin's doing," he explained. He motioned towards his chains.

"It is your doing that caused it Loki. The all-father does not hand out punishments for his own amusement." Her voice was sharp.

"Having lived in Asgard is punishment enough for me."

"Imagined slights"

"Imagined slights," he spat out the words. The chains on his arms rattled, as he rose. "Being raised as a leverage...is that imagined slight? Being treated as a second preference to Thor...walking in Thor's shadow...are these imagined slights?"

"And so Midgard had to suffer?"

Loki smirked.

"One tiny mortal world mattered so much, eh?"

"No world deserves to be destroyed. Or forced into servitude," she said calmly.

"Thor thought so too. Especially after he fell in love with that mortal girl. Jane Foster, was it?" he said. Sif noted the bitterness in his voice as he did.

"You love your brother and yet you lie to yourself so that it is easier to hate him."

It was not a question. It was a statement she dared him to contradict.

He didn't.

"It takes just one nail to hammer home," he said mysteriously, "Thor was never my brother and Odin was never my father or have you not heard?" he looked up and turned to he.

"I have heard. They are your true family, no matter who birthed you. You were raised as such."

"I was raised as a leverage. No amount of Asgardian life can change that," she had heard the whole story from Thor. Loki's biological father was Laufey, who abandoned him in a Jotun temple during Odin's great war with his people. Laufey never cared about the son born to him but Odin had loved Loki and raised him as his own son.

"You were raised as a prince, alongside Thor. You should be proud."

He laughed at that "Emotions that I do not feel?"

"Then what of emotions that u do feel?"

Loki looked at her, quizzical look on his face.

"-and what of me ?"

He was a bit wary as he said, "what about you?"

"what did I ever mean to u"

There was a slight pause. He held her gaze steadily.

"You should know by now. We have spent way too much time together" A little smirk, but it lacked the earlier venom.

"I need u to tell me" she placed her arms on the arms of the throne and stood over him. The throne that seated him was made of ice and fire.

"What difference would that make, Sif ?" he said softly

"Tell me" she said, softer.

The Command of a war goddess.

His own war goddess.

And all he could say was-

"My heart aches for you," he said simply. He made as if to turn away but she pushed him back, not harshly.

"Does it still?" she insisted.

Their lips were only inches apart.

"Kiss me and find out, " he hissed. She leaned in and they kissed. A brief, fleeting kiss that could convey a thousand sentiments.

Loki reached out to brush a lock of hair from her face.

"Flesh and blood." she continued, "warmth as always and the cool of a longing soul"

"Still longing soul, " he corrected.

"Then why the long winter?" she mused again mysteriously.

His chains melted and fell away. Only then did it occur to him that-

"It is a dream" he said.

"It is your soul bared. The true Loki," She said and her words echoed in the darkness of that chamber.

"There is no true Loki. Only a lie spawned by the Jotun. A shadow that recedes by nightfall"

She pulled away from him.

"Asgardian. You are an Asgardian and an Odinson...that is the true Loki. And I have come to take you home."

"Hell shall freeze over before I go back."

"Let the dead rise before I let it deter me"

He laughed softly, "There is coldness in you as much as in me"

"That is not true. There is no coldness in you. Only a winter's chill that fades by daybreak"

"I am not going back to Asgard "He said weakly, not wanting to argue further.

"Then come back to me" She searched his light eyes with her dark ones. She was calling him to herself, to be with her? Or to be as her?

"Sif..." he raised himself from the throne but she pushed him back again.

"A god of lies they call you, but I see more truth in your eyes than in their empty words. And there is the truth between us." She came closer

"The only truth between us is the silence that devours from beneath us." He replied.

She pressed on,"No, there is a truth that I felt with every part of me when we were together. The truth I felt at your every touch, kiss and caress. Silence didn't devour us, it spoke to us."

He locked his gaze with hers

There was silence that seemed to stretch on until finally ...

"i love you. That is my only truth."

"It took us long then, for this is _my_ heart's constant ache" she continued, "that I love u"

"So why the long winter?" he said

He raised himself from the throne and this time she let him. His arms wrapped themselves around her and her fingers tangled themselves in his hair. Their lips met and there was nothing he could think of except Sif-

"Sif, Sif," he breathed against her throat and her lips, and in between hot, fervent kisses.

"I want you. All of you."

"And I, you," he said.

"Time is running out."

"That is a shame," Sif had him backed against the dark wall of the chamber, and they furiously groped each other, not having enough of each other, not having enough of time…and with barely controlled desires…

However, time was running out…and Loki could already feel her, Sif, slowly slipping away…in the end Sif must have felt it too, she pulled away and stood back. Her features starting to blur.

With the remaining ounce of whatever power drove her to him, she said, "Loki, come to me."

"I shall"he said desperately, "i will"

"Do not delay, Loki"

With that Sif disappeared completely.

Loki opened his eyes and woke with a start.


End file.
